"Scared" but resolute Lindsay Lohan starts jail term

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A “scared” but resolute Lindsay Lohan began a 90-day jail sentence on Tuesday, trading nightclubs and Twitter messages for a small, isolated cell and an orange jumpsuit.

Lindsay Lohan appears in court at the Beverly Hills Municipal Courthouse as she surrenders for a 90-day jail sentence for violating the terms of her probation on drunk driving charges by missing alcohol education classes in Beverly Hills, California July 20, 2010. REUTERS/Al Seib/Pool

Lohan, 24, was booked into an all-female jail in south Los Angeles after surrendering in court for violating her probation on two 2007 drunk-driving and cocaine possession charges.

The “Mean Girls” actress, whose promising career has foundered during two years of strenuous partying, looked tired and tense during a brief, silent appearance at a packed Beverly Hills courtroom where she was handcuffed and taken into custody.

Lohan’s lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, told reporters Lohan is “scared as anyone would be...and she’s resolute. She does her time just like anyone else.”

Local TV news helicopters showed live video of Lohan’s journey, an unmarked car with tinted windows, to the 2,200-bed Century Regional Detention Facility.

Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department that runs the jail system, told reporters that Lohan “has been extremely cooperative and everything is going smoothly.”

She will wear a standard orange jumpsuit, hand in any jewelry, and cellphones and computers are banned.

Lohan’s time behind bars is expected to be reduced to about three weeks under programs for good behavior and jail overcrowding.

Beverly Hills Judge Marsha Revel on Tuesday ordered that Lohan must not be released to house arrest or electronic monitoring.

Related Coverage

NEW KIND OF BOOKING

Lohan, who has voluntarily spent the past week in a sober living facility in Los Angeles, will serve her jail time alone in a 12 ft by 8 ft (nine square-meter) cell for her own safety.

“People that have this kind of notoriety...they are kept away from the general population,” Whitmore said. “We call that a keep-away.”

Lohan seemed philosophical about her plight on Monday. “(T)he only ‘bookings’ that i’m familiar with are Disney Films, never thought that i’d be ‘booking’ into Jail... eeeks,” she wrote on Twitter on Monday evening.

Revel sentenced Lohan to jail after ruling that she had missed multiple alcohol education classes imposed in 2007.

Lohan must also attend a 90-day residential rehabilitation program on her release from jail, delaying shooting on her next, independent movie in which she will play the late porn star Linda Lovelace.

Lohan’s estranged father, Michael Lohan, who claims Lindsay is addicted to prescription medications, said he spent the morning praying for his daughter. “He is devastated she is going to jail,” his representative told reporters.

Lohan found fame at age 11 in a remake of “The Parent Trap,” and her subsequent work in “Freaky Friday” and “Mean Girls” established her as one of Hollywood’s most promising young actresses.

But her career has declined since 2007 when she admitted she was addicted to drugs and alcohol, made three trips to rehab and spent 84 minutes in jail. On release, she returned to a hectic night-clubbing schedule.

Slideshow (16 Images)

Among the crowd outside the hearing were a handful of fans, some wearing T-shirts that read “Let Her Go” and “Linnocent.”

Lohan’s next movie “Machete”, an action thriller in which she plays a socialite with a penchant for guns, is due to be released on September 3. It will be distributed by 20th Century Fox.